2024 WNBA Season Discussion Thread

[MrDollarBills]

Your current technical foul leaders as he we head towards the weekend (reminder, 7 techs equals a one game suspension)

-Diana Taurasi, Natasha Cloud, Kahleah Copper all tied with 6.

Not a surprise to me with as much sh*t as these three talk If I had to place a bet, Tasha Cloud is probably an altercation away from a 1 game suspension. It's inevitable

-Arike and Caitlin Clark are tied with 5

I think the odds of CC picking up techs 6 and 7 are also fairly high, she has been going at it with the refs all season long. all comedy aside, she's gotta watch it. That's my biggest criticism of her so rookie campaign: too much talk to the refs. You may be a superstar, but you're still a rookie. Play on.

The league is not going to be happy if she gets herself suspended, and it will be a massive blow to any fans who purchase tickets to a game she can't play in for non injury reasons.

If I'm not mistaken, this carries over into the post season. None of these players need to get themselves suspended so I hope they'll chill tf out

[Ice Man]

Your current technical foul leaders as he we head towards the weekend (reminder, 7 techs equals a one game suspension)

-Diana Taurasi, Natasha Cloud, Kahleah Copper all tied with 6.

Not a surprise to me with as much sh*t as these three talk If I had to place a bet, Tasha Cloud is probably an altercation away from a 1 game suspension. It's inevitable

On a side note, the above snippet is another reason why to never, ever, ever to listen to a spots podcast or watch a YouTube video that hypes up alleged feuds in the WNBA. Yeah,right. As you note, Cloud is a yappy hothead. She got into a pushing match with Kelsey Mitchell in the last game, to receive technical #6. That sparked some podcaster/YouTube chatter but of course nothing like if CC had been involved. Cloud was asked about the incident after the game. She smiled. She loves Kelsey, they're old friends, etc.

[MrDollarBills]

Your current technical foul leaders as he we head towards the weekend (reminder, 7 techs equals a one game suspension)

-Diana Taurasi, Natasha Cloud, Kahleah Copper all tied with 6.

Not a surprise to me with as much sh*t as these three talk If I had to place a bet, Tasha Cloud is probably an altercation away from a 1 game suspension. It's inevitable

On a side note, the above snippet is another reason why to never, ever, ever to listen to a spots podcast or watch a YouTube video that hypes up alleged feuds in the WNBA. Yeah,right. As you note, Cloud is a yappy hothead. She got into a pushing match with Kelsey Mitchell in the last game, to receive technical #6. That sparked some podcaster/YouTube chatter but of course nothing like if CC had been involved. Cloud was asked about the incident after the game. She smiled. She loves Kelsey, they're old friends, etc.

Yeah people don't understand how fierce these women/people compete in the W. That's why I was rolling my eyes over the stuff with the Fever and Storm.

This is like the equivalent to when Kevin Durant and PJ Tucker got into it in the playoffs a few years ago. They're literally friends but on the court they're competing fiercely. Hell, Kobe literally ran through Pau Gasol in the Olympics on purpose and that was one of Kobe's best friends.

People need to relax and enjoy this stuff, this is competition not hatred. It's all fun. If there is real beef, you'll know it, believe me.

[MrDollarBills]

Oh, and i agree with whoever said the league needs to rescind Clark's 5th tech. That was bullsh*t.

[MrDollarBills]

Tonight's game: Wings vs My Incredible, Amazing, Super, and Wonderful NY Liberty at 7pm on Prime!

[hermes]

what about for techs past 7? one game suspension per tech?

[hermes]

what the heck are the wnba schedule makers doing?

the lynx played wednesday, have a game friday and then saturday
against the fever - who haven't played since sunday!!

[MrDollarBills]

what about for techs past 7? one game suspension per tech?

I don’t know. I imagine that the counter resets?

[MrDollarBills]

what the heck are the wnba schedule makers doing?

the lynx played wednesday, have a game friday and then saturday
against the fever - who haven't played since sunday!!

Yeah that's awful scheduling and puts the Lynx at a disadvantage

But you've got Phee on your team. I know you're not scared??

[cdubbz]

Random question since I haven't been in the WNBA world: Did Elena Delle Donne retire? Just looked up and it said she just didn't sign the contract with Washington, but no notes of retiring. She made big money in her career, but anyone think she would make a return next season at the age of 35? She is considered a free agent right?

[MrDollarBills]

Shout out to whatever dumb ass team that traded Fiebich to the Liberty

[MrDollarBills]

Random question since I haven't been in the WNBA world: Did Elena Delle Donne retire? Just looked up and it said she just didn't sign the contract with Washington, but no notes of retiring. She made big money in her career, but anyone think she would make a return next season at the age of 35? She is considered a free agent right?

She is dealing with a lot of stuff personally and physically so she took a break as far as I know.

[cdubbz]

Random question since I haven't been in the WNBA world: Did Elena Delle Donne retire? Just looked up and it said she just didn't sign the contract with Washington, but no notes of retiring. She made big money in her career, but anyone think she would make a return next season at the age of 35? She is considered a free agent right?

She is dealing with a lot of stuff personally and physically so she took a break as far as I know.

Ah I see. Yeah she’s a player I remember hearing a lot about before and I had awareness of her greatness, but haven’t followed wnba.

*Potential Valkyrie* lmao. I’m going to be that fan that says every good player will be a nice addition to the Valkyries.

[Ghetto Gospel]

Re: "they'll continue to work them in the post because that is perhaps the most efficient way to play at that particular level and will lead to wins". So yeah, I don't agree that it's clear cut that this is what's leading to wins.

Who has the best offense in the league? The Liberty.
How did they do it? By jacking more 3's than anyone else despite the fact they have two former MVPs with bully-bodies.

Obviously you can't just jack 3's without quality shooters, but you're also not going to have quality shooters unless you prioritize acquiring and training such shooters.

i was just thinking moreso at the high school and college levels when i brought up the efficient post work. i think when there's a high school big there that has 5 inches on everyone, the most efficient way to score is probably just getting it to that girl and letting her work. in the WNBA, on the other hand, where all the bigs are pretty tall, the advantage is just going to be nullified.

the roster that the liberty have built is really an embarrassment of riches when you consider that basically all of their key rotational players can shoot sans vandersloot. having bigs that can shoot in the NBA is a huge advantage, but it's an even bigger advantage in the WNBA where most teams have anywhere from 0-3 capable shooters and the bigs that can be employed to shoot 3's are also great scorers at all 3 levels and defensive players.

honestly, i'm not sure teams can just go acquire shooters, when they don't really exist to be acquired. i guess they can try to develop their players to be shooters, but, i'd think a lot of teams are trying to get their players to work on that particular skill but for whatever reason it's just not happening. and then of course, you need the star/superstar level player that can draw enough attention to be able to create open shooters and right now they're unfortunately pretty concentrated on a few teams.

it's tough out there, and i think these teams just have to try and work with what they got for now even if it's not the most efficient way to play overall. it just has to be the most efficient way to play with the personnel that they have.

[ellobo]

Shout out to whatever dumb ass team that traded Fiebich to the Liberty

Her rights were traded a couple of times. She was drafted by the Sparks in 2020, the Sparks traded her rights to the Sky for Gabby Williams in 2021, and the Sky traded her rights to the Liberty in a complicated 8 teams deal last year, where the Liberty gave up Michaela Onyenwere.

[ellobo]

Oh, and i agree with whoever said the league needs to rescind Clark's 5th tech. That was bullsh*t.

The tech was total BS. She was frustrated with missing a shot at the other end. It had nothing to do with the refs.

Yeah, she complains too much and too demonstratively, but this wasn't that.

[Ice Man]

what the heck are the wnba schedule makers doing?

the lynx played wednesday, have a game friday and then saturday
against the fever - who haven't played since sunday!!

Indiana started the season on the road, played game #3 on the road, then game #5, then game #6, and then game #7, which was a back-to-back, as well as being the 3rd road game in 4 nights. That was against a rested Las Vegas team, which at that point in the season ... had never left Las Vegas. It had played no road games at all.

LOL.

[Ice Man]

i was just thinking moreso at the high school and college levels when i brought up the efficient post work. i think when there's a high school big there that has 5 inches on everyone, the most efficient way to score is probably just getting it to that girl and letting her work. in the WNBA, on the other hand, where all the bigs are pretty tall, the advantage is just going to be nullified.

Right. Which brings us directly to the AAU vs. Europe boys' discussion. AAU ball is about winning. If you have a 6' 1l" guy, feed him and let him dunk. Don't worry if he can't dribble or shoot. You are winning. Whereas in European ball it's about preparing your kids for a potential pro career. Teach every young player every skll.

That's changing somewhat due to pressures on US youth coaches, and you can see that in the players coming up, but the gap has not yet been closed. Euro bigs still tend to have more skills than US bigs.

[Ghetto Gospel]

i was just thinking moreso at the high school and college levels when i brought up the efficient post work. i think when there's a high school big there that has 5 inches on everyone, the most efficient way to score is probably just getting it to that girl and letting her work. in the WNBA, on the other hand, where all the bigs are pretty tall, the advantage is just going to be nullified.

Right. Which brings us directly to the AAU vs. Europe boys' discussion. AAU ball is about winning. If you have a 6' 1l" guy, feed him and let him dunk. Don't worry if he can't dribble or shoot. You are winning. Whereas in European ball it's about preparing your kids for a potential pro career. Teach every young player every skll.

That's changing somewhat due to pressures on US youth coaches, and you can see that in the players coming up, but the gap has not yet been closed. Euro bigs still tend to have more skills than US bigs.

agree and it's true in college as well. there's just a lot of bigs playing like shaq in college because they're so much bigger and stronger than everyone, then when they get to the league, they just aren't shaq here.

as an aside, are we sure that euro bigs are that much more skilled outside of like wemby and jokic?

embiid was basically developed in america and as much as i dislike embiid, he's very skilled even though he started playing late. anthony davis, kat, bam, chet, ayton if he wasn't a lazy pos, etc. i think there's just not a lot of bigs that exist in general, not a lot of bigs that are athletic and even less-so that have the talent to go with it. i will agree that in general, euro bigs are better passers though, but i'm not sure if that's true for anything else

[Ice Man]

as an aside, are we sure that euro bigs are that much more skilled outside of like wemby and jokic?

Maybe not any more. I will stand by that comment for the players of the past -- Dirk, Sabonis, Detlef, Vlade, Kukoc, etc. I don't think there's any question that those guys were more skilled than the average 6' 10" American NBA player. But maybe that gap has closed.